Category Archives: Summer

Eastside Beer Week Kicks Off In July

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Seattle Beer Week has been running for over a decade now. This year’s festivities marked the 11th year for Seattle Beer Week and it shows no signs of slowing down. While it is, of course, Seattle based, Seattle Beer Week featured beers from all around the sound. However, Seattle Beer Week and all of the events surrounding it aren’t always that convenient for people who live over on the East side. So this July, get ready for the first annual Eastside Beer Week,

Like Seattle Beer Week, Eastside Beer Week (EBW) will be 10 days long, and is set to feature events at breweries and craft beer spots along the 1-405 corridor. If you don’t get over to the East side that often, you might not be aware that there are well over 30 breweries on the East side. I’ve been to most of them myself but not all, so this is an excellent excuse for me to visit those I haven’t been to yet. Mark your calendar now for the ‘week’ of July 12th to the 21st, and prepare to head East.

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Fort George Partners With Cloudburst & Ruse For This Year’s 3-Way IPA

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Do IPAs have a season? Years ago, I used to think of the IPA as a bit more of a Spring/Summer beer, but their unrelenting popularity and proliferation has allowed the IPA to defy any kind of seasonal constraints. As the #1 most popular, style of craft beer that makes sense and explains why it’s so easy to find IPAs on tap all the time, and pretty much anywhere you go.

Fort George Brewing Company out of Astoria, Oregon clearly understands this demand for IPAs. In addition to all their other great IPAs, each year since 2013 Fort George has searched for other breweries to collaborate with in order to bring us that wonderful IPA known as 3-Way. Now, in collaboration with Cloudburst Brewing Company and Ruse Brewing, this year’s 3-Way is ready to make its debut.

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Stoup Brewing Launching Crowlers

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When you’re at a local craft brewery or craft beer bar and you find a beer on tap that you really enjoy, the first thing you usually want to know is whether or not they package that beer to go. As I’m sure most of you are aware, there are quite a few craft beers out there that don’t get bottled or canned – especially beers that are one-offs. That means, if you want to take some of that great new craft beer you just discovered home with you, your best bet is to see if the brewery or bar can fill you a growler to go.

Growlers are a great option and, varying opinions notwithstanding, I think they do their job quite well. However, using one means you’d have to already own one and remember to have brought it with you, or else you’ll need to spend a little at the brewery or bar (assuming the bar has some to sell) to purchase one before having it filled.

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Craft Beer Monger’s Picks For Seattle Beer Week 11

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Even though I knew it was coming, Seattle Beer Week (SBW) kind of snuck up on me this year. I can’t believe it kicks off in just 2 days! There are a few events that happen each year that I usually attend so I’m set there. However, I didn’t find much time until this past weekend to look over the rest of this year’s SBW events and choose which ones I’d either like to attend myself and/or that I’d like to suggest to you. I’m here to fix that.

How about you? Have you found the time to look over the ever growing list of events on the official Seattle Beer Week website? If not, don’t worry. I took the time to read through the details of every event that’s been posted for this year’s festivities, and I’m here to give you my suggestions for the best events to pick from for Seattle Beer Week #11.  Here we go!

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Gilbert’s Cheese Experience Comes to Stoup Brewing For Seattle Beer Week

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What pairs best with craft beer? That’s a big question and the answer can vary widely depending on what kinds of foods and what styles of craft beers you’re talking about. Do you have any favorite food(s) you enjoy pairing with your favorite beers? You can pair pretty much any type of food with craft beer as long as you stick to the basics of pairing. Do you want the beers you’re paring your foods with to compliment those foods with a similar flavor profile, contrast those foods to help balance things out, or do you want to use the food as a palate cleanser between dishes/courses?

One of the most popular foods to pair with craft beer is cheese. There is such a diversity in the taste, texture and aroma of cheeses that you can really get into exploring different paring options and have a lot of fun with it. If this sounds like something you might enjoy then you’ll want to mark your calendar for Tuesday, May 14th during Seattle Beer Week, when Stoup Brewing Company will host Gilbert’s Cheese Experience for their Seattle debut. Four different Stoup beers will be paired with four different cheeses from Gilbert’s, allowing you to explore and find your favorite pairing.

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Sam Adams Updates The Recipe For Their Summer Ale

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Do you have any favorite recipes? If so, do you share them freely or do you keep them a secret? Colonel Sanders did everything he could to protect KFC’s secret blend of 11 herbs and spices, and Coca-Cola keeps their secret recipe in a pretty serious looking vault, which is actually on display at the World of Coca-Cola museum in Atlanta. In case you weren’t aware, recipes can’t be copyrighted, which is why KFC, Coke and many other companies go to such great lengths to keep their recipes secret.

Craft breweries may not protect their recipes as fiercely as KFC or Coke, but they still don’t usually make them public or easy to share. They’ll often let you know what hops they use, what malt(s) they use and even which strain of yeast they brewed the beer with but that’s mainly because, for many craft beer enthusiasts, knowing those things can influence their choices. However, unlike KFC or Coke who keep their recipes the same year after year (‘New Coke’ notwithstanding), breweries will sometimes alter the recipes for some of their favorite beers based on feedback from their customers or their own taste buds.

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Hellbent Brewing Prepares To Release Their Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

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Spring is here. Temperatures are on the rise and Summer feels like it’s just around the corner. For some people, this might mean it’s time to put many of the darker, heavier craft beers on the back shelf and bring the lighter, fruitier, earthier, more floral Pales, IPAs, Hefeweizens, Golden Belgian Ales and other lighter styles forward.

You know what I say to that?  I say go to Hell – Hellbent brewing that is. Now don’t get me wrong. I love all those lighter styles too but, warm weather or cold, I always enjoy a rich, dark complex bourbon barrel aged Stout, and that’s exactly what Hellbent Brewing Company will be delivering next month on May 15th.

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Cascade Brewing Releases One Way Or Another 2017

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m a big fan of Sour Ales. That puckering tartness they impart can be too much for some, but it tickles my palate’s fancy and I’m always ready to try a new Sour Ale. We have some great local breweries that make some truly amazing Sour Ales, but most of them are relatively new. Before their existence, the best Sour Ales around always came from Cascade Brewing Company out of Portland, Oregon.

Cascade is still tops in my book. They’re one of my favorite Northwest breweries (as my #FF tweets can attest to), and I always keep tabs on what they’re working on next. To that end, I’m pleased to share the news with you that Cascade has released their One Way Or Another 2017 project. The 2017 version is a complex Sour Ale featuring Northwest-grown marionberries and Meyer lemon zest with Sour Blond Ale aged in oak barrels for up to 16 months.

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The 32nd Annual Oregon Brewer’s Festival Is Set For July 24 – 27

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Festivals are a big part of the craft beer World, and a great way to discover new beers and new breweries. New festivals seem to pop up nearly every year and some, including myself, might say we’re starting to get too many. I have a lot of respect, however, for the festivals that helped start the craft beer festival craze and the Oregon Brewer’s Festival, which has been running for more than 30 years now, is definitely one of them.

We have great craft beer here in Washington State for sure, but we also recognize that there is a plethora of craft beer awesomeness coming out of our neighbor to the South. Showcasing all that embodies craft beer (and cider), this year’s Oregon Brewer’s Festival is set for July 24th thru the 27th.

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Dates Set For 2019 Bend Brewfest

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I love Washington beer.  We have some truly incredible breweries here in Washington state; some of the best in the nation in my humble opinion and, while I try to drink local as much as I can, I don’t limit myself to drinking beers from Washington exclusively.  Our neighbor to the South, Oregon, also has some of the nation’s best breweries and I enjoy beers from them regularly.

Some of my favorite Oregon breweries are from the Bend area, which is why I’m pleased to announced that dates have been set for the 2019 Bend Brewfest.  This year’s festival will take place on August 15th thru the 17th in the Les Schwab Amphitheater.

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